Trifolium carolinianum Michx.

Carolina Clover; Wild White Clover

Herb

Perennial

Vascular

Carolina Clover is a native herbaceous perennial in the Bean family (Fabaceae). It is native to the central and southern United States from Texas and Missouri east to Virginia and Florida. In Alabama it can be found statewide, but is most common in the southern half of the state. Carolina Clover occurs in lawns, on roadsides, in cemeteries, on granite outcrops, and in thin, sandy pine or scrub oak woods. It is a perennial with a tap root. The stems are 3-11 inches in length, decumbent to ascending, pubescent, and green or reddish green in color. Leaves are alternate, petiolate, and palmately 3-foliate. The leaflets are obovate to obcordate in outline, glabrous or sparsely pubescent, with small teeth above the middle. Flowers are produced in heads. The heads are on pubescent peduncles and are held above the foliage. Individual flowers are papilionaceous and white or pinkish in color on elongate pedicles that recurve in fruit. The calyx is pubescent with 10 nerves. The fruit is a legume enclosed by the calyx tube.—A. Diamond

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Native

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